Through 10 games this season, the Kentucky men’s soccer team remains undefeated.
The Wildcats’ longest unbeaten run to start a season since 2018 continued Sunday night with a 0-0 draw after two overtime periods at home against No. 20 Florida International.
In both 2018 and now in 2021, Kentucky has gone unbeaten through the first 10 matches of the season.
This season’s Kentucky team — now 7-0-3 (W-L-D) overall and with a 1-0-3 mark in Conference-USA games — will hope to match or better the performance of that 2018 team, which reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
That trip to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals was the farthest the program has ever advanced in the postseason.
“This is the best squad I feel like we’ve had while I’ve been here,” Kentucky head coach Johan Cedergren told the Herald-Leader in August. “(2018) probably had more top end talent … (but) there are guys in this squad that could match that team.”
Sunday night’s draw with the Panthers displayed many of the qualities that have allowed Cedergren’s team to start the 2021 season so strong.
New goalkeeper Jan Hoffelner — a graduate student from Germany who formerly played at Iowa Western Community College, Presbyterian College and St. John’s University — made four saves in the match to help Kentucky record its sixth shutout of the season.
A quartet of Wildcat defenders: Luis Grassow, Lucca Rodrigues, Robert Screen and Mason Visconti, played all 110 minutes of the match in front of Hoffelner.
“Really good game, very intense college game. Lots of 50-50 balls and transition opportunities,” Cedergren said in a video uploaded to the team’s Twitter page after the FIU match. “A little disappointed to not get a win, but at the same time great respect to FIU … Jan and the back four came up with a couple of great stops or interceptions at critical moments of the game.”
Kentucky momentarily thought it had won the match in the 89th minute with a goal from Luke Andrews — a graduate student who formerly played at Saint Mary’s — but video replay confirmed an offside call that nullified the goal in live action.
Despite Kentucky still being undefeated, the Wildcats ended Sunday in a tie for fourth place in the C-USA standings. UK has six points from four conference games.
At the top of C-USA is Marshall — the defending NCAA champions — with eight points from four matches, followed by FIU and Coastal Carolina with seven points each.
FIU has only played three conference matches, while Coastal Carolina has played five.
Kentucky is tied with Charlotte, which has played three C-USA matches.
UK’s lone conference win came Oct. 3 at home against UAB, while the Wildcats have now recorded draws on the road against Coastal Carolina and Marshall, in addition to the home draw with FIU.
Only six regular-season games remain for Kentucky before the C-USA men’s soccer tournament takes place in Charlotte from Nov. 10-14.
Kentucky travels to Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday night for a match against Old Dominion, which is still winless in C-USA play this season.
But the most eye-popping match left on the UK schedule will come Oct. 19 in Lexington.
That’s when No. 4 West Virginia will be in town for a marquee non-conference match with the Wildcats.
The Mountaineers are 6-1-4 on the season playing in the Mid-American Conference, but West Virginia will join Kentucky in C-USA for men’s soccer starting in fall 2022.
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